Overview of centralized biogas plants projects in France

Will the new economic incentives overcome the non technical barriers ?

Christian CouturierSOLAGRO

75 Voie du TOEC31075 Toulouse Cedex 3

Christian.couturier@solagro.asso.frTél. 05 67 69 69 69www.solagro.org

www.lebiogaz.info

Biomethane production & use

Biomethane production

114 PJ Landfill gas

37 PJ

Enteric fermentations

50 PJ

Slurry storage

24 PJ

Biogas plants

3,4 PJ

Flared biogas

15 PJ

Atmosphere

94 PJ

Used biogas

8,8 PJ

Power plants

5,7 PJ

Boilers, driers & furnaces

3,1

Power

1,7 PJ

(460 GWh)

Heat used

2,4 PJ

Losses

4,7 PJ

Self-consumption 0,7 PJ

5,4

17

Sources : CITEPA, SOLAGROLast energy data updating : 2005

Trends

Biogas production : +10% / year during the last decade

Power production from biogas : +18% / year

Landfill gas schemes : +23 MW in 2006 (+33% of capacity)

MSW methanization plants :n 3 plants under operation (150.000 t)

n 12 new plants under construction or planned (> 1.000.000 t)

Agriculture sectorn Farm scale plants : 3-4

n CAD : 0

In operation

In construction

Planned

CalaisLille

Forbach

Metz

Saint-Lô

Angers

Clermont-Ferrand

MontpellierMarseille

RoanneBourg-en-Bresse

Amiens

Varennes-Jarcy

Blanc-Mesnil

Romainville

La Martinique

New economic incentives

Energy efficiency bonus

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Global efficiency

Bo

nu

s, €/M

Wh

Global efficiency = ( Power + Heat* ) / 97% x Fuel* Including digester heating

Price for electricity from biogas

Feed-in tariff, revised in july 2006

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

115

0 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000

Power, kW

Biogas plants

Landfill gas

Biogas plant, < 150 kW el,

efficiency > 75 % :

140 €/MWh

CAD projects in France

FERTI-NRJGEOTEXIA

TIPER

PROBIOGAS

JARNY

LES

CAD projects in France

~5

~5

~7

5,5

16

Investment (M€)

95 %

75 %

75 %

0 %

50 %

Manure (%)

District heating

Food industry

Food industry,

steam and water

Food industry

Self-use

Heat use

Farmers’cooperative created20Studies2005JARNY

[Lorraine]

Case-study for the PROBIOGAS programme

10 km biogas canalization

44Studies2005PROBIOGAS

[Midi-Pyrénées]

Local association under creation (farmers & municipalities)

52Studies2005TIPER

[Poitou Charentes]

Private project, includes 89 farmers for digestate use

38Permitting2001FERTI-NRJ

[Picardie]

Production of a solid fertilizer ; nitrate vulnerable zone

Partnership farmers organization / private company

60Permitting2000GEOTEXIA

[Brittany]

CommentsSize (Tg)

StatusProject start-up

Non technical barriers

n°1 : Heat use

Renewable heat issuesn Heat = 50% of final energy consumption

n Hot water = efficient heat carrier from producer to consumers

n Distribution => canalizations

n District heating in France : 3% of the housing ; mainly big cities

n Heat for industry ; but need for steam (only 17% of the fuel energy can be convert to steam with a gas motor ; and a gas turbine produces less electricity)

Solutionn Development of district heating : European Directive for renewable heat ; long-

term financing ;

n Looking for heat consumption (housing, services, industry)

n Construction of canalizations for hot water or for biogas, according to the distance between the biogas plants and the heat consumers

Capdenac Gare : food

industry, steam consumers

Mean distance from

farms to CAD plant : 11 km (real)

10 km

8 km

River Aveyron valley

River Lot valley

Tab le of Montbazens

bre

ak

Decazeville : district heating,

formerly coal, now wood

Non technical barriers

n°2 : Specific biogas canalization

PROBIOGAZ CAD project

Non technical barriers

n°2 : Specific biogas canalization

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

0 2 4 6 8 10

Heat used, GWh/year

50.0

00 t

on

s

1 Gwh valuable heat = ± 10.000 tons of biomass

n Investment : 100 k€ / km

n Annual cost : 15 k€ / km

n Heat value : 20-25 € / MWh (gas price) + 15-25 €/MWh (efficiency bonus) = 35 - 50 €/MWh

n Profitability limit : 300 - 500 MWh/y per km

Barrier :n Existing regulation

Solution :n Working group : security,

construction, guideline

Heat consumers

Steam and water

Gas

Water

Norea[Mauléon]

Gastronome[Neuil]

Heuliez[Cerizay]

Gastronome [Moncoutant]

Loel&Piriot ; France Champignon ; SOVILEG [Thouars]

Riblaire[St Varent]Calcia

[Airvault]

BTS Industrie[Chatillon sur Thouet]

BRM Mobilier, Wagon Automotive,

Ville[Bressuire]

Couvoir Boyé[Allonne]

Ville[Parthenay]

TIPER CAD Project

Non technical barriers

n°2 : Specific biogas canalization

Non technical barriers

n°3 : Gas injection to the grid

Barriersn Legal status : biogas injection is « lawful

but not permitted » ; specifications from authorities and gas operators are waited

n Health issues were cited about the Montech project (landfill gas upgradind): halogenated compound, heavy metals…

Solution :n Expert group of AFSSET (french agency

for health and environment at work) since Feb. 2007

Advantages for biogas injectionn High energy efficiency : not heat losses, few power consumption

n Low risk to loose the customer

n Production « with the stream », no influence of season / night / week-end

n Need for a renewable « green gas » in substitution to fossil gas

Non technical barriers

n°4 : administrative barriers

The legislation is unaware of biogas

n No legal norm for the solid digestate, unlike aerobic compost : problem for the commercialization and sale

n => AFNOR (french agency for normalization) work group dedicated to « digestate » from biogas plants, created in 2006

n Regulation concerning hazard for biogas plants is not clear

n Regulation concerning specific biogas canalization is not clear

Non technical barriers

n°5 : the involvement of farmers

Involvement of farmers in a CAD project : several conditions are required

Fertilizing issuesn Prove that digestate is better than slurry (for exemple : N-enrichment by adding

protein rich substrates from meat industry…)

For solid manure systems :

n Limit change for slurry spreading (same equipments…)

n Take in charge the switch to liquid digestate (equipement, storage)

n Prove that digestate is better than compost, i.e. mineralization of organic N is favorable

Economic issuesn Prove that CAD option is more profitable than farm-scale project, for each individual

case

n Fairly share out the benefits between all partners : farmers, waste producers, heat consumers, plant investor…

n Afford services - storage, spreading… - or money for slurry delivering

n Don’t ask for a fee from farmers : slurry is not a waste (except in N-excess areas)

Non technical barriers

n°6 : CAD operator

Need for a specialized developer

n Development costs for a CAD project = some hundreds of k€ ; duration : 4 - 5 years

n Includes : technical studies ; contracting with farmers, food industry, heat consumers, digestate users ; financement ; environmental studies, risks assesment ; planning ; permitting ; contracting with manufacturers…

n => Specialized business in biogas systems engineering is required, besides partnership with farmers, municipalities, local food-industry

n Cross-cutting concerns : energy, waste, agriculture… => a new profession

Conclusion

Due to the new feed-in tariffs for electricity, a new age is just beginning for biogas in France. In particular, biogas from agriculture is coming back.

Several CAD projects are under development. They will indicate what could be the « french way » for biogas from agriculture (obvisouly plural).